Tag: discrimination

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Safeway fires employee for calling customers ‘faggots’

Safeway has terminated the employee who called a gay couple “faggots” as they waited to make purchases at the grocery chain’s 1100 4th St. SW store on Saturday, June 11.

In a statement issued to Metro Weekly Thursday evening, June 16, Craig Muckle, manager of public affairs and public relations at Safeway’s Eastern Division said the incident, involving a cashier named Deangelah, Jason Morgan and his partner Brendan Harrington, was “personally offensive” to him.

“This goes against everything we believe and practice in terms of serving and welcoming our customers, and in being a part of the diverse communities we are privileged to serve,” his statement reads.

“We are at a loss to explain how one of our employees, even one who has been on the job for less than a month, could consider this kind of behavior to be acceptable. The employee has been terminated.”

More at Metro Weekly

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Disabled Gay Couple Ejected From Pool

A gay couple in Hazard, Ky., was ejected from a public recreation facility, sparking outrage from local LGBT organizations and allies.

The two men, who are reported to be developmentally and intellectually disabled, went to the pool at the Pavilion in Hazard, a city-owned facility. They were turned away by a maintenance technician, who told them, “We own this place and can tell you to leave if we want to.”

Shirlyn Perkins, executive director of Mending Hearts Inc., said the two men are clients of her organization, which provides support for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

“My staff asked the Pavilion staff why they were being asked to leave, and they were informed that ‘gay people’ weren’t allowed to swim there,” she said. “My staff told this man that what he was trying to do was discrimination. The man stated that what he was doing was in the Bible and he could do it.

Read more at the Advocate.

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Cosmopolitan Hotel – ejects trans woman, apologizes

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is receiving backlash today after a report surfaced on a hotel and lodging blog that a transgender guest was banned for life from the hotel -casino for using an empty women’s restroom.

The guest, identified as a “pre-op trans” named Stephanie, said upon leaving the women’s room she was taken out of the resort by security guards, told she was trespassing on Cosmopolitan property and she would be arrested if she didn’t leave. She said she was photographed and told she was banned from returning to the hotel.

Since the blog was posted, commenters have flooded the Cosmopolitan’s Facebook page with complaints on the reported incident.

When asked about the incident, Cosmopolitan officials noted to the Las Vegas Weekly, a sister publication of the Las Vegas Sun, the hotel is a Travel Alternatives Group-approved resort.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Cosmopolitan officials said they regretted the incident and would “welcome her back to the resort anytime.”

“The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is committed to maintaining a community that recognizes and values the inherent dignity of every person, by fostering sensitivity, understanding and mutual respect of our guests and employees,” according to the statement.

“We sincerely regret any misunderstanding or inappropriate actions that any member of our staff may have taken. And to ensure increased sensitivity within this area, the organization will focus on continued training and on-going awareness initiatives. In addition, we apologize to the individual guest and welcome her back to the resort anytime. Again, we would like to apologize to the LGBT community and anyone concerned and hope to demonstrate our firm dedication to fair and unbiased treatment of all.”

I’m not so sure how much of a commitment this shows on the part of the Cosmopolitan in that this happened in the first place. Not only was the guest “escorted” out, she was “banned for life.” I don’t see security guards taking this kind of action without some kind of confidence that they had the backing of the hotel.

Not sure about you, but I live in Las Vegas and I have a LOT of other options when it comes to choosing places to spend my money and where I recommend my visiting friends to go.

I also now question the wisdom of whoever deemed the Cosmopolitan a “Travel Alternatives Group” approved resort. For that kind of designation, this property is supposed to be LGBT friendly.

Hmmmm….